Eagles narrowly escape with win

Athens Christian 61, Eagle’s Landing 52

Athens Christian's 61-52 state tournament victory against Eagle's Landing on Saturday wasn't the run-of-the-mill first-round game between a No. 1 and a No. 4 seed.

Athens Christian coach Ron Link knew the Chargers - who hail from what Link described as the toughest region in Class A, Region 7 - would give his Eagles all they could handle. And that's exactly what they did.

In what was a close game throughout, Eagle's Landing carried a 42-38 lead into the fourth quarter before Link's team found a rhythm midway through the final period and held on for a narrow victory.

"Region 7-A is the best, top to bottom, in the state, by far, and it's not even close," said Link, whose team will host North Cobb Christian on Tuesday.

"They're playing wars every night, game in and game out.

"Our problem is that we've got four or five (teams in our region) that can really compete and the rest are trying to get up to the top four's level. So sometimes our starters don't even play a whole game, and tonight you've got to play a war for a whole game. It's gonna be that way from here on out."

The top-seeded Eagles (26-2) took the lead for good when Raymond Higgs hit a 3-pointer with 5:05 remaining to put his team up 46-43. The Chargers (15-14) would get as close as three points only once more - when Chris Bebout hit his third 3-pointer of the game, making it 55-52 with 1:46 to play - but Athens Christian went 6-for-11 from the foul line and held Eagle's Landing scoreless afterwards to finally pull away.

"We knew they were good, so we couldn't take them for granted," said Higgs, who shared the team's scoring lead with David Mann with 19 points apiece. "We just played our hardest until the last buzzer."

Higgs hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key just before the halftime buzzer to put the Eagles up 32-26 and give Athens Christian an emotional boost heading into the locker room after a sluggish first half.

The Eagles pushed the lead to eight points early in the third quarter, but the Chargers closed the period on a 14-3 run to take the lead entering the fourth. That's when Athens Christian turned up its defensive pressure, forcing numerous turnovers that provided fast-break opportunities for the Eagles.

"We just tried to play our game and outrun them," Higgs said.

It helped that Higgs also had Mann available on the wing, where he drained four 3-pointers, and Mann also went 6-for-6 from the line in the closing minutes.

The two guards were the only Eagles to finish in double figures, as Zach Lillie finished with nine points and Chaz Sheats added seven.

Mike Tankersley scored 12 points and Bebout added 11 to lead the Chargers, who self-destructed at the end with costly turnovers and missed layups.

Link admitted that his team's postseason inexperience - Saturday represented the first GHSA state playoff game in school history - and youth contributed to its shaky debut. But with their playoff debut now behind the Eagles, they now know what to expect moving forward.

"The next game is the world championship again - one by one, that's what we've got to think every game," Higgs said.

Glads move on

Clarke Central's opponent may have been Sprayberry, but the Gladiators seemed to be battling so much more on Saturday.

They had to contend with a vocal and hostile crowd. One of their star players suffered an early injury. And perhaps most importantly, the Gladiators had to silence their own doubt.

Despite digging themselves an early hole, the Gladiators went on the road and proved their mettle, beating the Yellow Jackets 55-54 in the first round of the Class AAAA state tournament. C7